Vigor of Twelve is a play off of the fact that Jesus had twelve disciples. It is a name that helps stress an importance on discipleship. This blog is specifically geared for younger people and mature Christians who don't mind a fresh, bold, and blunt approach to faith. Comments welcome, let's begin the discussion!

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Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Acts 16:16-18

As
Paul and his followers are headed to their place of worship, they came across a
woman who was possessed by a spirit.
This woman was able to see into the future (called divination here, not “prophecy”).
The people that owned her as a slave
made much money off of her. Once she met
Paul, she kept following around Paul and his friends telling everyone that she
met that they are “servants of the Most High God” and are “capable of telling
them the way to salvation.” She did this
for many days, and finally Paul got so annoyed that he commanded the spirit to
come out of her. The spirit did come
out.

Thoughts for Today

First Thought:

Isn’t
it sad to see how human beings will use each other to make money? Here is a woman who is clearly being oppressed
by some kind of spirit and rather than seeking to help the slave girl her
masters see it as an opportunity to make money.
It just goes to show how much human beings are self-mongers. We care about ourselves and our livelihood
far more than we care about the livelihood, health, and safety of the people
who are around us – even those under our care.

Why
do you think people have such a hard time valuing the health and safety of
another person? What modern examples can
you think of that show how we don’t really care about the health and safety of one
another?

Second Thought:

This
girl keeps walking around behind Paul and his friends and speaking the
truth. It might seem odd that Paul got
irritated, because she didn’t say anything that was a lie. However, even so it is highly likely that
this woman was interfering with the ministry that Paul was trying to
accomplish. It is one thing to try and
build relationships through the natural course of action. It is another thing to have to build up
relationships when other people keep interfering and not allowing the natural
course of action to take place. If
nothing else, the woman was not “doing it God’s way.”

Does
it surprise you to think that even the truth can be used as an obstacle to
ministry?

Third Thought:

Paul
commands the spirit to leave the girl alone.
The spirit obeys. We’ll get to
the consequences over the next few days, but for now we should focus on the
fact that they spirit obeys. When we are
walking with God, even the spirits obey the authority that God places within
us!

What
authority can you bring to life that is greater than the authority that God can
grant to you? Why do we spend so much
time chasing our own authority rather than pursuing God’s authority?